Irrational Games to Lay Off Majority of its Staff, Ken Levine Also Leaving

Irrational Games, the studio behind such hits as BioShock and last year’s BioShock Infinite will be “winding down” according to Co-Founder Ken Levine. The future for the studio will be that of a small 15-person team, with Ken Levine himself leaving the company to start a, “smaller, more entrepreneurial endeavor at [Take-Two Interactive].”

“There’s no great way to lay people off, and our first concern is to make sure that the people who are leaving have as much support as we can give them during this transition,” Mr. Levine wrote on the official Irrational Games website, “Besides financial support, the staff will have access to the studio for a period of time to say their goodbyes and put together their portfolios. Other Take-Two studios will be on hand to discuss opportunities within the company, and we’ll be hosting a recruiting day where we’ll be giving 3rd party studios and publishers a chance to hold interviews with departing Irrational staff.”

Ken Levine will personally be working on, “a new endeavor with a new goal: To make narrative-driven games for the core gamer that are highly replayable. To foster the most direct relationship with our fans possible, we will focus exclusively on content delivered digitally.”

David has been a gamer since childhood and enjoys games that are able to deliver fun and intricate gameplay alongside compelling and emotional narratives. He's also a huge fan of film, television, comic books, and literature. David has his B.A. in English Language Arts from CUNY John Jay College.